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acepumping
08-20-2012, 04:54 AM
hey, i am going to be starting to run pellets. two little fishies, reactor and pellets.
was wondering how slow i should introduce.. its only a 65 gal with 9 little fish and a 35 gal sump.

rowa phos w/ reactor
uv sterilizer
chiller
coralife hob skimmer( ehh i know the sh^$%)

please let me know if i should discontinue the sterilizer if running pellets or anything like that

thanks

acepumping
08-23-2012, 05:15 AM
anybody help? i need some input

Aquattro
08-23-2012, 05:20 AM
Can't offer any advice, but i know it's been discussed a lot in the past. Have you searched on the topic?

fishoholic
08-23-2012, 01:18 PM
Go very slow. Start with 1/4 of what you need to run and slowly add more. Tried running them in my system but even at 1/4 of what I should be running they kept making my skimmers go nuts and overflow everywhere. Finally figured I was better off running my skimmers properly then the pellets and gave up. Others have had success with them, I admit I'm fairly impatient. Also be aware that some people had the pellets kill their corals. Unless your nitrates are fairly high (over 20) I wouldn't risk running them. Look into a better skimmer and run GFO.

dc4
08-23-2012, 08:49 PM
Make sure you soak your pellets in ro water, the day before you add them. I added a 1/4 cup each week until I got up to a full cup.

You also have to modify the tlf reactor with a screen at the top and I cut off the bottom piece to allow more flow from the mj1200. If you don't modify it, the pellets will float up and out and clump together and create a chemical poison. Took me almost 2 months of mucking around, to get things to work right. I had the pellets keep clumping until I snapped the bottom off the reactor.

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asylumdown
08-25-2012, 06:56 PM
Also be prepared for cyano issues at the start. Some people get away with it, but you'll find literally hundreds of threads on the web in which people got cyano explosions shortly after starting the pellets. It looks like cyanobacteria can also metabolize the carbon polymer that gets sloughed off the pelllets as they tumble and makes it in to the water column, so if you're going to run pellets it's strongly recommended to routinely dose a probiotic supplement to help out compete the cyano.

When I added pellets to my old 90 gallon (that had been running for a year), my whole tank was a thick carpet of cyano the next week. This time I added them right at the beginning and haven't had too many issues.

acepumping
08-27-2012, 03:41 AM
ok, i will start very slow, its a 65 gal with 20 gal sump. i know they need to tumble slowly,so they dont stick.. but i was told to add micro bacteria.
my nitrates get between 25-35 ppm, i love feeding the fish alot and my corals... where should i have the hoses running too ??


from left side of sump into reactor, then reactor to right side of sump ???

dc4
08-27-2012, 03:45 AM
You don't want just a slight tumble with pellets, you want them to tumble a lot, otherwise they will clump guaranteed. You want the outlet hose of the reactor to output right where the input is to your skimmer.

I'm also running Prodibio Bioclean with the pellets.

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jagermaier
08-27-2012, 04:26 AM
You might want to disconnect your uv sterilizer as it could have a negative affect on the bacteria you are trying to bennefit from the bio pellets.

emerald crab
08-27-2012, 05:37 AM
It might be a good idea to take the GFO offline. If you use bacteria for nutrient export, you don't want to upset the balance nitrates-phosphates. Make sure that you bring the effluent of the pellet reactor close to the skimmer intake.

acepumping
08-28-2012, 12:16 AM
so i should take out my uv light, my phos ban reactor. and remove my charcoal bag too ?? i will be using the micro bacteria to get everything rolling properly i think

apexifd
08-28-2012, 02:40 AM
so i should take out my uv light, my phos ban reactor. and remove my charcoal bag too ?? i will be using the micro bacteria to get everything rolling properly i think

you can probably leave the carbon in there.

Removing UV is to help the bacteria stays in the water column and eventually make it into the reactor and seed the pellets.

removing phos ban is to have the nutrient in the water to feed those bacteria that you want to grow.

I am 1 week into the bio pellets, and water just turn cloudy. Which is normal due to the population boom of the bacteria in the system.

acepumping
08-28-2012, 04:00 AM
thnx, but i heard you were suppose to start very slow so you dont get that cloudiness, stil lwaiting for jim to get me my reactor hahaha
are you using micro bac or anything else >>??

Reefgoat
08-28-2012, 04:00 AM
There is evidence that aquarium UV sterilizers have no significant effect on bacteria levels in the water column. If you want the details you can check out the March 2011 issue of Advanced Aquarist. I'm not sure why you're running it but in regards to bacteria populations it sounds like it won't matter if you run it or not.

acepumping
08-29-2012, 01:00 AM
i am strictly running it to slow down algae and mainly to kill off any free flying parasites if there is any.. its a prevenative measure